Interesting Links, June 2009

Interesting links for June, 2009.

Greetings from the Cherry Orchards

It’s picking time!

A lot of cherriesI stopped by one of the orchards I’m providing drying services for at about 2:30 PM this afternoon. A refrigerated tractor-trailer truck full of cherries was just pulling out. The grower was there, and he looked very cheerful. He told me I was too late; they start picking at 4:30 AM and finish for the day by 1:30 PM.

We talked for a while about the cherries and how they grow. He said the harvest was heavy this year and that he had about 3 times as many cherries as he’d harvested last year. He also said his cherries were, for the most part, nice and fat and that the buyers were going to love them.

He showed me how cherries have to be picked — by the stem to prevent them from going bad too quickly. He pulled a big fat bing off a nearby tree to demonstrate and handed it to me. It was beautiful.

We also talked about my flying. I’d flown over his orchard twice during our three-week contract and I wanted to make sure I’d done it the way he expected. I tend to fly a little low at times and I wanted to make sure I didn’t damage the cherries. Bings are pretty sturdy — he tried to find some blemishes on the one he’d picked for me but couldn’t. He said that when they’re really good and red, you can’t really see any damage. He said the wind damages them just as much as the helicopter most times.

Picking TimeHe and his pickers had begun picking on Thursday. He’s got 30 acres of mostly mature cherry trees and expects to be done picking on Monday. That’s when my contract with him ends.

He invited me to come back earlier tomorrow to watch them pick and then process the cherries. He has some kind of cooling bin that brings the fruit temperature down near freezing before putting them into the truck. He says this keeps them fresher longer. He also promised to give me some cherries to take with me tomorrow.

I took a few photos in the orchard before leaving.

And, of course, I ate that big, beautiful cherry.

Why Mark Sanford Should Resign as Governor

What do you think?

Mark Sanford, Governor of South Carolina, has burst into mainstream media again. This time, it’s because of his 6-day disappearance and the revelation that he’d spent the time in Argentina (of all places) with his mistress.

Jeez, Louise. My first reaction to this was “Can’t Republicans keep it in their pants?” This was a knee-jerk reaction after learning recently that Republican Senator John Ensign had also had an affair. In his case, it was a bit more ironic — and hypocritical — given that he called upon Bill Clinton to resign after his affair with Monica Lewinsky. As summarized in Wikipedia, Ensign also supported the Federal Marriage Amendment, saying: “Marriage is the cornerstone on which our society was founded.” Yeah, right.

The problem with Sanford, however, goes beyond Ensign’s hypocrisy and their shared infidelity. Let’s look at the facts: Mark Sanford disappeared without telling any of his aides or the Lieutenant Governor where he was going. He left the country without leaving instructions regarding the chain of command in the event of an emergency. He basically abandoned his post.

To make things worse, he apparently deliberately misled his aides about his destination, hinting that he wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail. His staff passed this information on to the press, thus misleading the entire nation. (Imagine if he didn’t come back. We’d be combing hundreds of miles of mountainous wilderness, searching for him.)

This is not an issue of unfaithfulness to his wife and family, of abandoning his four sons on Father’s Day. It’s an issue of acting irresponsibly and lying to his constituency. If he lies about this, what else would he lie about? What else has he already lied about?

Is this the kind of many who should retain “leadership” of a state?

And I won’t even go into his political games, attempting to deny the people of his state Federal stimulus money to make a political point. I’m just glad for the people of South Carolina, that he didn’t get away with that.

My opinion: Mark Sanford should step down as Governor of South Carolina and move to Argentina. His family, his state, and our country don’t need people like him.

Update: The story is evolving. Apparently, Sanford also visited his South American sweetheart on the state’s dime, making it part of an official visit to the area. So now he’s guilty of misappropriating state funds for non-official “business.”

Yet an NPR caller today claims he’ll still support Sanford if he runs for president. Do these bible-belt conservatives understand the difference between right and wrong? Or are they just plain stupid?

Found Photos: Jack the Dog

Jack and the thunderstorm.

I made this photo of our dog, Jack, up at Howard Mesa a few weeks ago. Mike and I had gone for a walk with him along one of the dirt roads on the mesa top. As we walked, a storm was coming in. The clouds looked menacing overhead. I used a wide-angle lens (16mm) to add the distortion you see here, hoping for a kind of surreal effect. Not sure if I achieved it, but this is one of my favorite pictures of Jack the Dog.

Jack the Dog at Howard Mesa